The blending of Norse and Gael in the Hebrides does not appear to have been more successful than in Orkney, since we find, in 1139, that earl Rögnvaldr said that most Suðreyingar were untrue, and even Sveinn Ásleifarson put little faith in them. The use of Norse names and patronymics by the leading Gaels in Caithness, who are alone mentioned in the Saga, is accounted for by the fashion set by their Norse earls, as well as through the influence of Norse marriages. While the leading people must have been bilingual, speaking Norse (the court language), and Gaelic, the _almúgi_, or common people, appear to have maintained their native Gaelic. This is indicated in two striking instances in the Saga. In 1158, earls Haraldr and Rögnvaldr went from Þórs-á up Þórs-dalr and took _gisting_, night quarters, at some _erg_, which “we call _setr_.” The local Gaelic name of such a shieling was _àiridh_, E. Ir. _airge_, _áirge_. In 1152, earl Haraldr, who was living at Víkr, dispersed his men _á veizlur_, _i.e._, quartered them on various houses, in accordance with the obligations of the householders, during Páskar, Easter; then the Katnesingar said that the earl was on _kunn-mið_. Vigfússon suggested that this word was some corrupt form of a local name; Dasent translated it “visitations,” and Goudie “guest-quarters,” which is correct, as _kunn-mið_ must be Gaelic, _comaidh_, a messing, eating together, E. Ir. _commaid_; _cf._ Gaelic _coinne_, _coinneamh_, a supper, a party, to which everyone brings his own provisions, E. Ir. _coindem_, _cionmed_, quartering. In both these cases the E. Ir. spelling comes nearer to the Norse than the Scottish Gaelic does, and corresponds to the Scottish Gaelic of the twelfth century. The fact that the earl had the right to quarter his men in Orkney and Shetland, is preserved in the tax, _wattle_ < _veizla_, which was paid in lieu of actual entertainment. This tax continues to be paid to this day. “The Inhabitants of Orkney and Shetland after 1350,” will be the subject of a future paper; meanwhile it may be emphasised that the Gaelic earls of Orkney failed in the male line before the Scots began to assume permanent surnames. The Gaelic earls were succeeded, in the female line, by the Lowland-Norman family of St. Clair, bearing a hereditary surname, about the time of whose arrival began the Lowland-Scottish settlement of Orkney, to the influence of which must be attributed the assumption of the Lowland Scottish language and the adoption of place-surnames, and not fixed patronymics, in Orkney, by the Norse-Gaelic inhabitants. Shetland, being far removed from the seat of government and fashion, continued the use of patronymics until the nineteenth century, when they became fixed.